YouTuber Trevor Jacob has been sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to intentionally crashing his plane to “gain online views.” The 30-year-old, also a former Olympian, deliberately downed his Taylorcraft BL65 aircraft while filming a stunt on Nov. 24, 2021. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Jacob had taken off from Lompoc City Airport on a roughly 215-mile flight to Mammoth Lakes. However, approximately 35 minutes into the flight, he bailed out of the aircraft, which later crashed into California’s Los Padres National Forest. The YouTuber soon landed in hot water after being accused of purposely wrecking the plane for views, with the feds swiftly launching an investigation into the incident.
Jacob had set up multiple cameras inside the plane before pulling off the stunt and also filmed himself parachuting to the ground after being ejected from the plane. According to the DOJ, he hiked over to the wreck after safely parachuting to the base “and recovered the data containing the video recording of his flight and the crash of the airplane.” He even hired a contractor to help extract the aircraft from the forest. The experienced pilot and skydiver then transported the “cut up and destroyed” plane with his truck and trailer. Jacob reported the incident to the National Transportation Safety Board about two days later and claimed that he was unaware of the location of the wreckage.
However, Jacob posted a video on Dec. 23 titled “I Crashed My Airplane” that showed him “parachuting from the plane and the aircraft’s subsequent crash,” per a release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The YouTube video also “contained a promotion of the wallet” that Jacob intended to profit from. The footage had accumulated 4.4 million views before being taken off YouTube. The influencer also discarded the wreckage in multiple trash bins around the Lompoc City Airport. Jacob finally pleaded guilty on Jun. 30 to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Central California. He even wrote a letter to a judge saying, “While I carefully researched the plane route to make sure the crash would not be near human housing or trail routes, I should have never gone forward with it.” Now he’ll have to spend six months behind bars for a dangerous stunt just for some likes and followers.
